The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector for flat cables and, more particularly, to an electrical connector which makes electrical connections to the conductors of the flat cable by insulation displacement techniques.
It is well known in the art to make electrical connections to individual wires or the conductors of flat cables by insulation displacement or solderless connections. The following patents disclose a variety of connectors which operate on this principle: U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,708 (Wedekind et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,873 (Peterson), U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,957 (Narozny), U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,560 (Anhalt et al.). It is common among the connectors disclosed in the aformentioned patents that the termination sections of the contacts used therein are each provided with a longitudinal slot which forms a pair of jaws into which a conductor, comprising a metallic core covered by insulation, may be pushed, whereby the jaws pierce or display the insulation of the conductor and penetrate the core of the conductor to make electrical and mechanical connection thereto. Typically, the slotted termination section of the contact forms a pair of prongs which are pointed at their ends which facilitates the insertion of the contact into the insulation webbing which joins the parallel conductors of a multi-conductor flat cable. It is also a standard technique used in insulation displacement connectors for connecting to flat cables that the connector contain two rows of contacts with the contacts in each row staggered relative to each other so that when a flat cable is pushed down over the two rows of contacts by a suitable tool or the connector cap, the contacts in the two rows will electrically engage alternate conductors of the flat cable along two parallel paths.
The need has arisen for terminating an electrical connector to a flat cable in which the connector contains three rows of contacts, rather than only two rows as in the prior art connectors discussed above. Because of the required standard spacing of the contacts in the three rows, it is impossible to connect a flat cable to the termination sections of the contacts in single layer in the conventional manner. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel electrical connector which allows the connection of a multi-conductor flat cable to three rows of contacts. It is another object of this invention to provide a novel flat cable arrangement which faciliates the termination of the aforementioned three row contact connector to the conductors of the cable.